Nearly 6 week old not sleeping at night

[Kilgo2]

hi everyone
I'm new to mumsnet and would appreciate some advice .

My ds is nearly 6 weeks and is breastfed.he is gaining weight well and filing lots of Nappies so I know he is getting plenty of milk.

The problem is that he generally only goes to sleep for 2 hrs sessions at night between feeds!is this normal? He wakes up,feeds for 10-15 mins then falls back to sleep.
Lastnight and v rarely he will go nearly 3 hours and I was wondering what I could have done differently to make him go for longer.
Could it be going out during the day where he had a good 3 hour day nap,putting more layers on him so he doesn't get cold through the night or is it just one of those things?

Welcome to mumsnet :)

This is normal behaviour for a 6 week old baby - he will almost certainly not be waking up because he is cold, and keeping a baby too warm is dangerous, anyway (so it would not be good to put more layers on him).

Lots of people think it is easier to accept this normal waking, and to work your life around it (co-sleeping, for instance), rather than trying to work out ways of changing it...which are unlikely to work, and could increase your stress and make him distressed.

You won't have done anything different yesterday - babies are not cause-and-effect robots and their waking and sleeping and eating is fairly random in these early weeks :) He wakes, 'cos i) he is genuinely hungry/thirsty and needs the nutrition ii) he needs to connect with you and be close, as part of normal emotional and cognitive development

Hope this helps!

This sounds very much like my DS, totally normal. I would recommend making sure you are as comfortable as possible, i bought some long sleeved buttoned night shirts (husband thinks very unflattering) they are warm and keep your arms covered when feeding, i used to ensure i had a drink and a couple or few biscuits by the bed, and if dh woke up and offered help he was sent to make a cup of sugary tea. I also made sure i had everything i needed for nappy changes so i wasn't trying to find things in sleepy state!

I seem to think that between 6 and 12 weeks his sleep improved loads and gradually he slept longer and longer, although it was random, we had a good night then a bad etc... In the short term, maybe a good idea to pop yourself to bed a few evenings a week shortly after baby, then you don't feel like you have only just got to sleep when he wakes!